


Spacehunter: Galaxy Chase

by BeingProtector



Category: Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 00:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14705984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeingProtector/pseuds/BeingProtector
Summary: The opening to an otherwise non-existent novel.





	Spacehunter: Galaxy Chase

The ship’s intercom spat and crackled.

“You still out there, spacehunter?”

Wolff was snoozing in his chair, stars drifting through the web of windows in the cockpit. The message shook him from a freshly forming dream, and the images took a moment to dissipate. Then the smell of the place returned, that ugly jumble of leather, sweat and sand. Every nap meant a rude awakening. At least Niki was still clean enough.

He shook his head and jabbed the receive button.

“Yeah, I’m here. Who is this?”

“Transmission from Lagus 6.”

“The cop planet?”

“Right.”

At least it was a woman’s voice. The only company he had had for the past two weeks was the scruffy vagrant girl. Several planets back, Chalmers lay in a melted heap of circuits and silicon.

“Is this Trent?”

“Yeah.”

“Go on.”

“There’s a message here for all bounty hunters in the quadrant. I’m giving you a heads up ’cause of that merilium job you did.”

“Thanks, Trent.”

“The penal colony on Vidian 4 has suffered an uprising. Seven prisoners have escaped and the rest are roaming around the old city.”

A third voice interrupted them. “The old city?”

Niki was awake. She scratched her orange head and staggered into the cockpit. Wolff’s ship was never a smooth ride.

“Used to be a regular planet,” Wolff said. “A plague broke out a century ago. Everyone who didn’t leave in time died. The place was overgrown in a day.”

“A _day_?”

“Everything’s out to kill you on Vidian 4. The weeds are poisonous, grow three miles in one night.”

“How did they do-wise, then?”

“High up in the clouds. Giant platforms and bridges. A whole city in the sky.”

“So they made it jail-like after?”

“Yeah. Best place for criminals, they said. Can’t go down, can’t go up, unless they have a ship.” He turned back to the overheated panel. “Carry on, Trent.”

“The force on Lagus 6 want them taken in as fast as possible. They’re pretty booked up themselves.”

“I’m a salvage operator, not a bounty hunter.”

“Sure, Wolff, sure. Could five thousand megacredits change your mind?”

Niki’s eyes bulged. “You kidding me? I could buy my own planet with that!”

Wolff leaned back and scratched his chin. Almost all the credits from the deal with Washington and the merilium job had gone to ship maintenance — and satisfying Niki’s newfound taste for pomrings and goldberries.

He looked up at her with tender irritation. “This is why I didn’t want to take you, kid. I shouldn’t bring you into this kind of mess.”

“Hey doddy, I thought we were partners. Partners do everything together, stand?”

Wolff’s hand went from his chin to his eyes. He could already feel the pull of the job, the credits singing. He slapped his armrest in resignation.

“Alright, Trent, I’m in.”

“ _We’re_ in,” said the girl.

“Sure, kid. How long till the message goes out, Trent?”

“I’ll put it off as long as I can. Just get there fast.”

“Alright.”

Wolff punched the button again, and sat up straighter. “You know what I’m about to say, don’t you.”

“Yeah yeah, be all quiet and sharp-look.”

“And no running off when I’m not looking!”

“ _Okay_ , Wolff. I want those credits just as much as you.”

The spacehunter tapped in the coordinates and pushed the throttle, and the ship shuddered with the stress as it moved into sonicspeed and beyond. Through the window, the stars turned from points of light to streams.

* * *

This was the first job Wolff had undertaken with someone else in mind. With two or three thousand megacredits, Niki could start a new life somewhere. Maybe even go to the dexacademy. At the same time, he was beginning to like her company, the weird energy she gave to the simplest interaction. As his ship cut through the jet ink of nothing, he considered talking to her about it, but he could imagine her response all too easily. “Me, go to _school_?” rang her voice, shrill and indignant. He smirked to himself.

The panel flashed amber, blurped warnings: they were approaching Vidian 4.

Wolff slowed from sonic to subspeed. A few moments later the planet loomed up, its crimson atmosphere swirling. Nearby a lonely satellite hovered, monitoring who came and went. Wolff wondered if the convicts below had figured out the security systems. Probably — deeter hoarders were common in any quadrant, and they knew a circuit board like the back of their hand, let alone a VDU. The credits called again, and he forged ahead, cutting through the atmosphere and breaking out into a desolate world of mist.

Behind him Niki hurled his handheld StarConker game onto the bed, and came to see the view from the cockpit.

“Looks real decadent,” she said with a grimace. “Where do we land?”

“Shouldn’t be far to the nearest pad,” said Wolff. “I’ve seen pictures of this place. The whole planet has a man-made level on it, for the old inhabitants.”

“How long till the creepers get us?”

“Look.”

The ship had passed through the clouds and there before them stood a monolithic structure. An enormous metal shaft vanished into the haze a hundred metres below, and already they could see dark green fronds fingering their way upwards, ivylike. Atop the shaft was a wide landing pad with faded yellow markings. On the other side a bridge disappeared into the unknown.

Wolff circled the ship like a dog making its bed, then set it down with a few bumps. The engines chugged into silence. There was not a sound around them, not even birds.


End file.
